Monday, February 23, 2009

Isnt it remarkable that they can take a big pointy scratchy stick thing and somehow turn it into something that looks like this:

The yarn is 100% bamboo and glorious and shiny and silky with quite a lot of weight which makes for a lovely drapey scarf. I bought it in PurlSoho in New York City last summer and wanted to buy enough to make a drapey cardigan wrap thing, but they didnt have enough. So I ended up only getting one skein which was barely enough to make this scarf (its short!) but still.

The pattern is the Montego Bay scarf which is so simple (K2tog, YO) basically but for some reason is impossible to get right and is very unforgiving as you can see all mistakes. But I got into the rhythm of it eventually. I do love it. I might have to revisit bamboo at another point, although will have to find something cheaper this time.

Another big project that seemed to go on and on, but I only worked on it between other things. The lovely lovely Araucania Ranco Multy. MMMMMMMMMMMMMmmmmmmmmmmmmm.

I was a bit concerned that the varigation in the yarn would take away from the texture of the lace pattern, but I think its OK. It just makes it look more like something that is growing rather than something I knit.

I wanted a stole kind of thing that could be worn as a big scarf basically and it fits the bill wonderfully. It feels great too. Lovely and scrummy and bunchy all up inside your jacket.

This is what I did with the left over wool from the Girasole after a week away in which my camera was brutally left in my pocket naked with random stones and shells given to me by the kids. It deserves better.

It was so nice to do something quick and straightforward for a change.

Tuesday, February 10, 2009

All done! I actually finished a few days ago, but my bleeding camera broke. Of all the times for it to crap out on me. Still I have a shiny new (well not so shiny and refurbished) camera now, and what better to photograph with it that this lovely thing. I do love it, and cant stop admiring the flower and leaf motifs. I will let you admire it before I reveal my reservations.

And the last picture tells the story of my lingering doubts about what to do with it. If I wear it as a shawl, it seems a shame to obscure its loveliness by bunching it up and also, and perhaps more importantly, it makes me look like an old granny. Its the edging I think. While ingeniously designed, it does make it look a bit too doily-like for my tastes. So what the heck am I going to do with it? I could use it as a throw for the couch, but the kids will probably muss it all up and it seems a bit too glorious for that. And it isnt the right colour. So I am musing on its use. M

And strangely, and I am not sure this has happened to me before, I miss knitting it. It was a pain in the end, but such fun making your way through chart after chart. I would kind of like to knit another one, but since I cant decide what to do with this one, it seems a bit pointless. I do have some lovely Cascade 220 in the perfect colours to match my couch, but I dont have enough to do the whole thing. Hmmm.....

Monday, February 2, 2009

Wow this Girasole is a mixture of wonder and frustration. You get glimpses of loveliness as you see the pattern emerge, but mostly it looks like a big lump of nothing.

I have had a few setbacks, including failing to read Chart D properly and having to tink back over 600 stitches and thinking I had finished only to find I was still to repeat Chart G.

Anyway, good news! I am now doing the remarkably nifty knitted on edging which is fun for the first 10 repeats until you realise that there are over 200 of them in order to get all the way round. No matter! Today I have been glad I am knitting something I can drape over my knees as its blinking bloody cold out there today (first 'proper' snow for years!) and I must be nearly half way round after a few days at it. The incentive to keep going is to be able to spread it out in all it's glory once its completely cast off. Cant wait!